


pieces of cake

by hoorayy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Homesickness, Implied/Referenced Character Death, kinda angst smh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoorayy/pseuds/hoorayy
Summary: It's Pidge's birthday, and the team is determined to make it a great day. Meanwhile, on Earth and in a Galra prison camp, two other characters hold their own quiet birthday celebrations.(Written April 2017, set pre-season 2)
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Matt Holt & Pidge | Katie Holt, Team as Family - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	pieces of cake

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! i'm working on re-uploading a whole bunch of old vld fics because it's 2020 and at this point i'm allowing myself to enjoy my old interests again even if they turned out to be terrible. i still love these characters and i'm proud of all the effort i put into writing about them! so back up on ao3 they go. enjoy!

Tomorrow was Pidge’s birthday, and Hunk was determined that she was going to have a good day. He found Keith and Shiro training together and dragged Lance in for a quick, private meeting.

“Pidge’s birthday is _tomorrow_?” Lance repeated. “Wow, thanks for the advance notice.”

“I only just found out about it,” Hunk said defensively. “I still have some of that flour substitute stuff and some sweetener, so I can make the cake. I just wanted to let you guys know ahead of time, in case you had anything you wanted to give her.”

“Of course,” Shiro said. “I have her gift in my room.”

“Her gift?” Lance sounded almost offended. “You knew about this even longer than Hunk?”

Shiro looked a little embarrassed. “Yeah. Sorry. I should have brought it up sooner.

“It’s all right.” Hunk looked at him. “How did you know when it was, though?”

“Her birthday fell during the Kerberos mission, so Matt and Commander Holt recorded a birthday message for her. I walked by and got dragged into it.” He shrugged. “The date stuck in my head. I wonder if she ever got it…”

“We’ll ask her some time other than tomorrow,” Hunk said. “I don’t want to make her sad.”

“Yeah, she’ll probably be homesick enough as it is,” Lance added.

“The cake will help cheer her up.” Hunk was already creating a mental list of ingredients in his head. “She likes peanut butter, right?”

“But not peanuts,” Keith said.

“Right. So we’ll give her the cake and gifts during dinner, then?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Shiro agreed, and Keith was nodding, until Lance interrupted.

“What? That’s it?” He sounded downright incredulous now. “C’mon, Pidge deserves more than that. We’re throwing her a party.”

“We’ve got cake and gifts,” Keith said. “It kind of is a party.”

Lance stared at him. “Please tell me you’ve been to an actual party at least once in your life. Please. I don’t want to be sad for you right now.”

Keith just looked at him.

“What else do you want?” Shiro asked. “I’ll talk to Allura about decorations, and if you have any ideas, I’ll see what I can do.”

“A party is not a party without balloons,” Lance said. Hunk could see his own mental list starting. “Or streamers. And color coordinated plates and cutlery.”

“Don’t forget the giant banner that reads ‘Happy Birthday Pidge,’” Keith said sarcastically.

“Great idea, Keith. Can’t forget the banner.”

The conversation turned into bickering, the two alternately trying to outdo each other with extravagant party plans and make fun of each other’s ideas.

Hunk turned away from them and looked at Shiro. “So you have a gift for her?”

Shiro nodded. “Yes, but now I wonder if it would be more meaningful from someone else. It’s just one of those video games she’s always collecting.”

“I’m sure she’ll love it, no matter who it’s from,” Hunk insisted.

“Oh, I know she will,” Shiro reassured him. “It’s… I had another idea just now. I think I’ll give the game to Lance to give to her.”

“Whatever you want,” Hunk said. If Shiro found something else to give her, that was even more gifts they could get on the table tomorrow. He started to envision the party, probably closer to how Lance saw it—a stack of colorful gifts, food that tasted like home, and maybe some games as well.

If it was going to be a real party, he was going to make more than cake. Parties required party food, and that meant he better get started now.

#

Back on earth, Colleen Holt knew exactly what day it was. She’d been dreading the countdown, loathing every day that brought her closer to another milestone without her family. Matt’s birthday had been hard enough. And now it was Katie’s, and she was still here alone.

Despite herself, she’d started the day as if everything was normal. It was easy to imagine that everyone else was just out—the kids at school, Sam at work or locked in his workroom and unaware of what day it was. He always managed to emerge for dinner, and she was confident he wouldn’t miss Katie’s birthday.

She’d collected gifts throughout the year, just as she always did. When something caught her eye, she got it, hid it away until their birthday rolled around. She got all of Katie’s gifts out this morning, wrapping them and remembering when she’d gotten each one. They were stacked up on the corner table now, all shiny paper and colored ribbon. The calendar hung above it, April 3 circled in pink highlighter and Katie’s handwriting underneath it (‘don’t forget, dad!’). She and Matt did that every year with their new calendar—flipped to their birthday and marked it, just in case Sam forgot. (He never did.)

This calendar didn’t have Matt’s birthday circled.

Colleen had made a cake, too. Katie’s favorite—chocolate and peanut butter. She’d decorated it with fifteen candles, and now it sat on the table, waiting to be lit.

She waited, sitting at the table and watching the door, watching the phone. Just in case.

At eight, she couldn’t stand it anymore. She lit the candles, flicked the light switch, and froze.

She’d intended to sing. She and Katie had for Matt. She’d do it now for Katie. She could do it. It was just a simple song…

Tears blurred her vision. She blew out the candles without a word and turned the lights back on. A tear dripped from her nose while she cut the cake, and she didn’t make any attempt to stop it. She cut four slices, setting them around the table. It was tradition. If someone missed the cake, their piece stayed on the table until they got home.

They’d had to throw out Matt’s cake, of course. But Colleen would let Katie’s out, at least for the night.

She turned to the gifts. She’d put them back up in the closet with Matt’s.

#

Pidge followed Keith, arms folded. “You’re being awfully weird about this. What’s going on with dinner?”

“Huh? Nothing.” Keith gave her his best innocent look. “You were just a little late, so I came to find you.”

“I was just working on a project,” Pidge said, a bit irritable. “I’ve been late before, but you don’t normally seem so… itchy. What’s going on? Please tell me Coran didn’t make another special meal.”

“No special meals,” Keith said. And then, immediately, “I mean, Coran definitely didn’t make it. Coran did not make another special meal. No.”

Pidge’s eyes narrowed. “Keith, you have exactly ten seconds to tell me what’s going on—”

She never got the ten seconds. Keith threw the dining room doors open, and everyone inside shouted “Surprise!”

Pidge stared. “What the quiznak, guys.”

The table was practically covered in _stuff_. Some of it was food—was that pizza?—some of it was gifts, and some of it was literally just stuff. Shiro swiped a piece of trash from the table near him and hid it behind his back. Pidge pretended she didn’t notice.

Streamers decorated the chairs, and a misshapen ‘happy birthday’ banner hung on the wall. It looked handwritten by a two-year-old. Balloons—Pidge had no idea how they’d gotten those in space—floated in the corner. Even Allura and Coran were there, standing behind the table and smiling.

“It’s a party,” Keith explained quickly. “For you. Your birthday.”

Pidge blinked. That was today? “Oh. Um.”

Hunk looked like he’d been holding his breath. “Happy birthday, Pidge. I, uh, made you some stuff. There’s pizza, well, space pizza, and some other things, and there’s cake too—we all worked on it, and some of the others have presents, and—”

“We just wanted to say happy birthday,” Shiro interrupted. “We know it’s not easy for anyone to be away from their family and home, but we know it’s especially hard for you. We wanted to make the day as special as we could.”

They knew she’d miss her family on her birthday, so they’d done all this for her. Pidge’s eyes suddenly welled with tears. She couldn’t stop them, and they spilled over. Hunk was at her side immediately.

There was a muffled ‘oh, quiznak,’ from Lance, and then a slightly less muffled ‘hey!’ as Keith bumped his shoulder to quiet him.

“Oh, man.” Hunk hugged her. “I’m sorry, Pidge. Did we do something wrong?”

“No, no. This is amazing.” Pidge’s voice was wavery, cracking. “I just—I do miss them. I miss Mom and Dad, and Matt, and I want to be home celebrating with them—I’m sorry, I don’t want to ruin this—”

Pidge felt someone behind her and glanced back. Shiro. He put his arms around her.

“You’re not ruining anything,” Shiro said. “We know you miss them. It’s all right.”

“It’s your party and you can cry if you want to.” Lance wiggled into the center of the group hug. “Seriously, Pidge. It’s okay. We all get homesick.”

Pidge wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “Thanks, guys. I really do appreciate this. All of it.”

“It was our pleasure.” Allura’s voice. Pidge looked up at the princess. “We’re all very grateful for everything you do here, Pidge, and we wanted to show you how much _we_ appreciate _you_.”

“We’re all here for you, Number Five,” Coran added.

“Anytime you feel lonely, just let us know.” Keith had awkwardly moved closer to the group hug, but didn’t look like he was going to join it anytime soon.

“I will.” Pidge straightened up. Shiro, Hunk, and Lance let go of her. “Thanks.”

“Does this mean we can eat now?” Lance asked. “I’m starving and Hunk’s food smells delicious.”

“If Pidge is ready,” Shiro said.

Pidge pretended to think about it, just to drag out the look on Lance’s face. “Well… All right, I guess we can eat.”

Lance whooped and sprinted for the table. Pidge followed, and she smiled.

#

Matt waited until the guards finished their rounds and the rest of the prisoners had fallen asleep. It didn’t take long; the long work days cured any insomnia someone might have. Matt had struggled to stay awake, forcing his eyes to remain open and stare sightlessly at the bunk above him.

Figuring out the day on earth had been a matter of simple calculation, and now it was just a matter of keeping track. Today, he’d realized that it was April 3, and that meant he needed to be awake tonight.

The prison guards stomped out of the dormitory building, leaving it silent save the breathing of forty other prisoners. Matt waited just a moment longer, and then slipped out of bed. The window across the room was unlocked, and he climbed out quickly and silently. The night was dark, which was good for him. Less chance of being spotted. He’d been beaten for far less than sneaking out at night. He really didn’t want to ruin Katie’s birthday with another flogging.

He climbed onto the roof, slipping under an overhang on the roofline and blending his shadow into the roof’s. Nobody would know he was there.

In one hour and twenty-three minutes, the guards would be back to check on the sleeping prisoners again. Matt had to be back in bed by then, but he had time.

He looked up at the sky. There wasn’t much to see, down here at the bottom of a mining shaft. Sometimes you could see the moon, if the night was just right. Sometimes even the stars. Tonight, though, all he could see was clouds.

“Sorry, Katie,” he whispered. “Wish I could control the weather.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of bread he’d snuck from his dinner rations. It was dry and tasteless, a far cry from birthday cake. But it would have to do.

The last time he’d done this, it had been his own birthday, and Dad had been there. That was before he’d been really sick. Before Matt had learned that the Galra did not take kindly to the ill.

“I promised him I’d get out of here,” Matt told the sky, who was supposed to tell Katie. “He wanted to see you again. You and Mom. He… _We_ missed you. I still do.”

He fell silent, his throat too thick to say anything else. He broke the piece of bread in half and set part of it on the roof next to him. Leaving out the cake for Dad.

“Happy birthday, Katie,” Matt whispered.

#

The party was over.

Lance had given her a video game, and then they’d ended up pulling a video game marathon. Even Coran and Allura had joined them, after admitting they’d never actually played them before. In a strange turn of events, Coran wasn’t half-bad, keeping up with Keith and even beating Lance once.

Pidge had been reigning champion, although she wasn’t sure if they’d let her win because it was her birthday. She hadn’t really minded either way.

Eventually, everyone had started to doze off. Allura and Coran excused themselves earlier on, and then Lance started snoring on Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro carried him to bed, and Keith had followed suit a minute later. Hunk dozed on the couch until Pidge told him that she was just about done for the night, and he’d told her happy birthday again and goodnight.

“I’ll be up there soon,” Pidge said. “Gonna grab my things from the dining room first.”

Hunk nodded sleepily, then left.

Pidge had been telling the truth—she’d left her gifts in a pile on the table, and she wanted to retrieve them before she went to bed.

But she’d also left the cake on the table, and there was a tradition to keep up.

Besides the video game from Lance, she’d also gotten a dress from Allura, in case Pidge ever wanted to wear something more feminine, and a knife from Keith, in case she wanted to use a weapon other than her bayard.

Sitting on top was her gift from Shiro.

She picked it up, cradling the data pad in her hands as though it might break. Shiro and Coran had gone to a lot of trouble to find that particular file, hidden somewhere in the Galra archive after being retrieved from the ship that made the Kerberos mission. Honestly, Pidge had no idea how they’d managed to track it down at all.

She tapped the play button. The faces of her father and brother filled the screen, smiling. They sang happy birthday first, then Matt started going on his yearly spiel about this being the marked anniversary of her birth, how she was older today than she ever had been before, even though that happened every day, and how she should celebrate to the greatest extent of her birthday with incredible amounts of sugar and gifts that she’d probably forget she’d received at all by next year. And she should definitely save some cake for him because he was tired of space peas. Dad laughed at him, then looked into the camera and told her that he loved her and he was proud of her and the beautiful, intelligent, determined young lady she was becoming.

After that, Shiro walked by in the background, looking so different with his all-dark hair and no scar, and Matt and Dad dragged him into it, and he gave a lopsided grin and wished her happy birthday, and even though he’d only met her once, she seemed very nice and smart and she was probably going to do great things just like her dad. Matt punched his arm, wanting to know if he was chopped liver, and then they bickered in the background while Dad laughed and looked into the camera and said again that he loved her, and to give her mom a hug because this was also the anniversary of the day that she spent three hours in labor. He waved, and then the screen froze on his smile.

Pidge had cried the first time she watched it, and then she’d hugged Shiro for a solid minute and cried some more.

“See?” Shiro had said quietly. “I didn’t even know you then, and I already knew you were going to do great things.”

Pidge scrubbed tears from her eyes with one hand, then turned off the video and set it back on the table. She moved to the other side of the table, where the half-eaten cake still waited, and cut three pieces from it. Balancing the plates precariously and holding the data pad much more securely, she made her way back into the room she’d just come from.

There was a huge window seat, and it was her favorite place in the whole castle. It looked out into open space. Hunk didn’t like it; it made him nauseous. But Pidge liked to curl up there with some pillows and a blanket and work on a problem, or just sit and think. That’s what she was planning to do now.

She set the plates of cake down at the edge of the seat, stacked up the pillows, and curled up against them. She propped the data pad up against her knees, watching the video the whole way through again.

It stopped, and she noticed little things about the ending frame she hadn’t before—Dad’s tired lines under his eyes, Matt’s crooked glasses in the background, how Shiro was smiling too, the same goofy grin she sometimes saw when he was winning a video game.

Pidge looked out the window. Space was so huge. Here they were, anchored to one random point, and all around them was only darkness and stars. They weren’t even close enough to a planet to see it. So far away from earth, and from Pidge’s family.

“I’m leaving out your cake,” Pidge said quietly, resting a hand against the glass. “I miss you.”

**Author's Note:**

> sorry about that sam thing... again! i wrote this in early 2017! i Did Not Know that he would be one of my favorite characters. we stan a dad. i'm sorry @ sam holt you deserved better!!!


End file.
